This Creamed Spinach is an easy but special side dish, perfect for a holiday meal. The spinach gets wilted in a homemade Béchamel sauce and is so flavorful from the garlic and parmesan cheese!
Cook auromatics: Melt butter in large skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened, around 5 minutes.
Make roux: Stir in flour until smooth, then cook for 30-60 seconds until frothy, stirring constantly.
Cook Béchamel sauce: Gradually pour milk into pan while continuously stirring. Stir in heavy cream and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes.
Wilt spinach: Add spinach in batches, allowing each batch to slightly wilt to make room for more. Once all spinach has been added, allow it to simmer for 2-3 minutes, until wilted.
Finish: Stir cream cheese and parmesan cheese through spinach, adjust seasoning and serve immediately.
Notes
Ingredient notes
Spinach: Use fresh baby spinach leaves for best results. Frozen leaf spinach can be used as a substitute, but you must thaw and drain it first. I do not recommend using frozen chopped spinach.
Cream: If you want to make a lighter dish, feel free to use more milk in place of the cream. Half and half or evaporated milk are also good substitutes.
Nutmeg: This may sound like a surprising ingredient in a savory dish, but it’s actually a classic seasoning for both spinach and Béchamel. I first learned about it from my husband who is a trained chef, and I always add it to spinach now (and to mashed potatoes, because it’s so good there, too).
Parmesan cheese: We love this in our creamed spinach, but it’s not mandatory if you don’t have any parmesan cheese on hand. You can try a different flavorful cheese such as Romano or Pecorino, but even a white cheddar is great.
Cream cheese: If you’re not a fan, just leave it out. You may need to add an extra splash of milk to make up for the creaminess the cream cheese adds.
Recipe tips
The onion needs to be fully cooked and softened in the first step, otherwise it will retain a raw biting taste that can ruin your dish.
Make sure you do not brown the flour, it needs to stay fully light in color for the Béchamel sauce to come out right. Use medium heat only, or medium-low if your stove is strong. A Béchamel sauce cannot be rushed, and it doesn’t take long too cook as-is, so please do not try to cut prep short by increasing the heat.
Keep stirring the flour constantly, and make sure to stir well as you’re adding the milk. The flour will seize up and thicken immediately, if you do not continuously stir, you will end up with lumps.
Serve the dish right away and avoid it sitting around for any length of time. It tastes best eaten freshly cooked.
How to make a Roux/Béchamel sauce for beginners
This technique is called making a roux (cooking flour in butter) to make a Béchamel sauce (adding milk/cream to create a creamy, thickened white sauce). Here are my tips to make a roux without messing it up:
You must use medium heat here and the flour mustn’t brown.
If you are new to making roux, I highly recommend taking the pot off the heat to stir in the flour. This gives you a little more time to avoid lumps and to keep the flour from getting too hot. Once you have fully stirred the flour into the butter, place the pot back over medium heat again and cook for 30-60 seconds, stirring constantly, until the flour is foamy.
Now take the pot off the heat again and gradually stir in the milk. This is not how you usually make a béchamel sauce (you’d leave it on the heat), but I have tested this several times and for beginners, it’s an absolutely easy way to make a great roux/béchamel without creating a lumpy or burned sauce.
Once you have fully combined the milk with the flour mixture, set the pot back over medium heat again and simmer while gradually stirring in the cream. Then just simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened.